On the day of our 11 weeks ultrasound I started spotting about 2 hours before my appointment. When I went to the Dr, I told them and they were not concerned because the heartbeat was good, the baby was growing perfectly, and everything looked A okay. My doctor said many, many women spot and it could be from exercise, intercourse, or other things. So I tried to accept that as much as I could, and went on. I still worried a little, but who wouldn’t. I trust my doctors though, they are wonderful, so I settled down a little.

That was on a Thursday, and Saturday morning, I thought I had a miscarriage. I bled a lot, and passed a few large clots. I didn’t know what to expect, so I called my husband (he had to work, which was soooo unusual for a Saturday) and he took me to our local ER. After waiting forever while sitting there in the lobby bleeding, they FINALLY took me back, just to wait longer. They started an IV (my first IV ever…) and said they were going to check my hormone levels, do an ultrasound to see if the baby was still there, and do an exam to see if my cervix was open. They did bloodwork, then did the exam. I was so shocked to see how they did the exam. They didn’t have me in a bed with stirrups, so they put a bedpan upside down, covered it with a sheet and had me place my butt on it. It was so awkward and uncomfortable, why couldn’t they just take me to another room?! But out of that awkward moment, I received good news. My cervix was closed. The Dr. said it would be almost impossible to miscarry and have my cervix close back completely that quick, so they did an ultrasound directly afterwards. There was our beautiful baby, flipping and twisting and having a blast. Heartbeat was good, everything looked good, so they waited on my hormone levels, which turned out okay, and sent me home and told me to follow up with my Dr. Monday. Yay .

Monday morning I called my doctor and made an appointment for that afternoon. We went in and had another ultrasound (and got pics!!) and talked with the doctor. Our miracle was fine, but i was diagnosed with a condition called Placenta Previa, which is where my placenta grew on the lower part of my uterus and covered my cervix. My doctor was very reassuring with this, saying that besides the bleeding there was really nothing to worry about this early in the game because as my uterus expanded, the previa would migrate up with my uterus. They said this condition was more of a later 2nd trimester, early 3rd trimester thing, and I should be just fine. They did put me on bed rest and told me that any time I was bleeding, I would have to be on bed rest. Which was completely fine with me as long as it would keep our baby healthy. After about a week of bed rest, I went back to work.

I worked 1 week and that Friday morning I had another doctors appointment (Good Friday). Everything was fine that morning, no bleeding or anything. I had only been sick a little bit, and my doctor had told me to take a few over the counter vitamins to control it, which had been working. So I was really happy. The doctor did tell us no intercourse at this point until the previa moves, which sucked lol, but it would be completely worth the wait to hold our little one in our arms in about 6 months.

That Friday evening we were spending time with my husbands family because his aunt, who was more like a grandmother to him, was dying of lung cancer. The doctor had given her less than 2 weeks, and at this point, the backbone of our extra large family couldn’t even sit up on her own, wasn’t eating or drinking, and we all knew it was a matter of days, not weeks. While sitting there I started bleeding really heavy, but i knew it was just the previa. I handled everything well, and knew to get off my feet, so I did. Saturday morning I called my doctor and he told me if I were still bleeding Monday he would pull me out of work as long as I needed until the bleeding stopped. I had a wonderful group of doctors, I was so appreciative. I wanted to keep my lil sweetie as healthy as I could

So I was out of work until Wednesday, and I thought I was going back that day, but I started bleeding again that morning (it had stopped Tuesday afternoon). I called the doctor and took care of work notes by fax. Everything was still okay. Until that afternoon. I started getting cramps. I was puzzled, because that was NOT a symptom of my previa. That night I was up and down, getting only a few hours of sleep. Thursday night they were worse, being every three minutes apart and lasting about 45 seconds. Sure in the world didn’t sound like cramps to me, it sounded like contractions! So I called my doctor Friday morning and got worked in that day.

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